The NSS has started a petition calling on the Prime Minister to ask the Catholic Church to pay the estimated 20 million cost of the Pope’s visit. If his followers want him to come and see them, fine, but there are better things to spend taxpayers’ money on. To sign, click here.

You may remember the 2007 Pledgebank campaign to send a copy of Richard Dawkins’ ‘God Delusion’ to every MP, if enough people pledged a copy. It succeeded. Now the same person behind that campaign has begun a new one, asking you to pledge: I will donate one pound to the International Red Cross for each of the 26 Anglican bishops sitting in the House of Lords who completes the Sober Survey but only if 999 others will do the same.

If you live in Suffolk or N E Essex, and you’re interested in training as a celebrant, have you considered joining us? I ask, because I’ve just been talking to someone who didn’t know about our training and went elsewhere for some, and only found out when it was too late. You can find out more about us on our ceremonies page. We don’t charge for training, we’re local, and we’re good.

If you want to join the campaign, go to www.robinhoodtax.org.uk.

Sorry to have delayed posting this, but in case you missed it, last week’s Saturday Play on BBC Radio 4 was Slaughterhouse 5, a dramatisation of Kurt Vonnegut’s powerful anti-war novel. You have until 4.02pm this Saturday, 20th Februay, to listen on i-player. Kurt Vonnegut was honorary president of the American Humanist Association. He thought religious doctrine was “so much arbitrary, clearly invented balderdash.” Vonnegut said, New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth.

On Tuesday 23rd February (next Tuesday) there’ll be a parliamentary debate about the Government’s own amendment to its Children, Schools and Families Bill, which would enable faith schools to teach their own skewed versions of sex and relationships education. Please read the BHA’s report on this, and contact your MP urgently. (Note: the asterisk used in the heading is to avoid the wrong sort of Internet attention).

You may have read elsewhere about the shameful way that the House of Commons voted for [Ed Balls’ amendment to the Children, Schools and Families Bill](Children, Schools and Families Bill “Children, Schools & Families Bill”), which means that the Catholics are crowing that they’ve won the right to teach a different version of sex education to other schools. Mark Steel (in the Independent) asked, How can there be so many lunatics opposed to sex education?

Picture from www.defaithed.com. This reminds me of the young man who phoned BBC Radio Suffolk after I was interviewed recently. He said that there were dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark, but God chose baby dinosaurs, otherwise there wouldn’t have been room.

Suffolk Humanists & Secularists committee seldom meet face to face – we use Skype because we’re scattered all over the county. So far, we haven’t done this. Maybe next time. I like the baby best.

Yesterday, representatives of the Secular Coalition for America met White House officials to discuss issues of concern to American atheists, humanists and secularists. Before the meeting, they said, … it will be the latest indication that the secular movement is gaining significant momentum, and that secular Americans, numbering in the tens of millions, are a constituency that must be included. Predictably, fundamentalist Christian right-wingers have reacted as though President Obama was making a pact with the devil (who doesn’t exist, though try telling them that).

BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson was interviewed on BBC News about the amendment to the Children, Schools and Families Bill (see previous posts), before it was debated. Sadly, the Commons voted for Ed Balls’ amendement. Video courtesy of the BHA